Posts

However, Rice also echoed widespread criticism of the president for arranging a meeting with Taliban leaders at the Camp David presidential retreat just days before the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Rice appeared on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert on Monday, giving her expert insight on the reported peace deal that could end 18 years of war in Afghanistan. Rice was National Security Advisor to President George W. Bush during the 9/11 attacks and the subsequent invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, and later Secretary of State during ongoing operations in both countries....

Stewart, who spoke at a news conference Monday for the first time since his involvement in the Aug. 9 tragedy where his sprint car struck and killed Kevin Ward Jr., hasn’t put the pieces of his own life back together but at least he has them on the table and ready to accept the challenge It won’t be easy. And part of that is what was apparent Monday. He still struggles to understand what happened that night, the venom of the public reaction and how to live his life....

So the game is subject to a thousand languages, and dozens of regional dialects of those tongues. It is difficult to address the world game in words everyone understands because of its polyglot presence. MORE: Characters in soccer’s worldwide scandals | Smart moves by North American agency FIFA headquarters in Zurich (Getty Images) So, too, is there an alphabet soup of names of soccer governing bodies. Neophytes or anyone whose scope doesn’t extend beyond local borders might not know CONMEBOL from CECAFA....

It’s important to note that a “sleeper” might be someone you take relatively early in the draft. It’s all about value. If you take an RB in the fourth round who you think should be a first- or second-rounder, you can consider him a sleeper. For the most part, though, fantasy owners think of “sleepers” as mid- or late-round picks who are well off everyone else’s radars. Because we know college fantasy leagues come in all sizes, we have a mix of potential sleeper candidates at QB, RB, and WR below....

In our Week 1 Picks Against the Spread, we had Kent State covering the 29.5-point spread against Texas A&M. So, of course, the Golden Flashes trailed 41-10 and missed field goals of 25 and 24 yards in the final minutes that would have provided the cover. We would say “lesson learned,” but it won’t be the last time it happens this season. We’re on to Week 2, where there are two matchups between ranked teams with No....

Also, Notre Dame’s price has been cut from an opener of 30-to-1 to 20-to-1. Michigan, after hiring coach Jim Harbaugh, as well Texas A&M, Miami and Oklahoma State, have seen their odds shortened, too. Baylor and Oklahoma have both had their odds lengthened from 12-to-1 to 15-to-1. Further down the board, prices have increased on Ole Miss, UCLA, Stanford and Texas. Most dramatically, Mississippi State’s odds have doubled. Ohio State, Alabama and TCU maintain their position as the top three favorites, each of their odds being trimmed since opening numbers were posted after the Buckeyes beat Oregon in this past season’s championship game....

The College Football Playoff championship game is set for 8 p.m. ET Monday at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. No. 1 Alabama meets No. 3 Georgia in a rematch of the SEC championship game, which the Crimson Tide won 41-24. The Bulldogs are 2.5-points favorites, however, and it’s a chance for Kirby Smart to lead Georgia to its first national championship since 1980. Alabama is looking for its seventh national championship under Nick Saban....

And it pretty much always ended the same: with UCLA as champion, 10 times in the 12 tournaments contested between 1964 and 1975. Only 32 teams qualified that last year: conference champions made it automatically, a few assorted independents were brought along and, for the first time, some accomplished league contenders were invited to compete. When UCLA won its first nine titles, the field was 25 teams or fewer. Imagine if the people in charge had left it at that, under the assumption the Bruins would keep winning on an annual basis no matter what changes were transacted to make the tournament more just and more compelling....

The first set will be released Tuesday to kick off November, and there are just five weeks remaining in the playoff chase. The latest shakeups saw two top-four teams lose in No. 2 Penn State and No. 4 TCU, and that means the arguments are about to begin. Consider that we left two unbeaten Power 5 teams out of the top four, and we think the committee is going to back that up....

That also kick-starts some fantastic arguments about which teams deserve to be ranked, and where. Only five unbeaten teams remain in the FBS, and that includes two teams from the same conference. MORE: Week 10 College Football Playoff picture Do the first set of rankings matter? Let’s look back at the top four teams to start from the last three years (*denotes team made playoff). 2014: Mississippi State, Florida State, Auburn, Ole Miss 2015: Clemson, LSU, Ohio State, Alabama2016: Alabama, Clemson*, Oklahoma, Florida State One third of the teams initially ranked made it in, so it’s clear we have a long way to go — and a lot of arguing to do....

While College Football Playoff expansion might be in the works, this year marks the eighth season of the four-team playoff. This year’s College Football Playoff championship game is Jan. 10 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. The year’s semifinals are Dec. 31 at the Capital One Orange Bowl and Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic. Sporting News’ Playoff picks are more of the same. Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State and Oklahoma have combined for 20 of the 28 total playoff appearances....

That is where this is headed after their Week 10 losses. Alabama slipped to No. 10 in the AP Poll after a 32-31 loss at LSU, which bumped up to No. 7 in a stunning role reversal for Nick Saban and Brian Kelly. Now, the Crimson Tide need help just to get to the SEC championship game. Remember, no two-loss team has made the CFP, and there will not be exceptions made for the Crimson Tide if they can’t back-door into that conference championship opportunity....

Clemson narrowly avoided an upset at home against Syracuse and dropped down two spots to No. 4. Mississippi State and Duke were the only dropouts on Saturday after losses to conference foes Florida and Virginia Tech, respectively. Colorado and N.C. State were the biggest movers, as each entered the rankings for the first time this season after victories over UCLA and Virginia, respectively. MORE: SN’s Week 5 Power Rankings...

That’s a loaded question: Some stadiums thrive on sheer size. Others have intimidating atmospheres and others simply defy logic. At the end of all that, it’s more than just numbers. MORE: College football 2018 lookahead Knowing that everyone might have different ways of thinking what defines “tough,” we looked at several categories to select the toughest places to play in all of college football: Last year: Jordan-Hare Stadium (Auburn) Seventeen FBS schools finished unbeaten at home last season, but it’s fair to say Auburn was the best at home last year....

No. 17 Miami and No. 18 Louisville meet in the ABC prime-time game of the week in a showdown between two teams trying to move up the ladder in the ACC. There are nine games involving teams ranked in the AP Top 25 after No. 12 North Carolina and Charlotte canceled their matchup. MORE: College football updated polls after Week 2 We are still finding our bearings with picks against the spread, especially on the big lines....

The hunger strike is being rebooted in an effort to get Congress to pass the Freedom to Vote Act by Jan. 17, Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The act would work to roll back a slate of restrictive voter laws passed in a number of states by thwarting voter suppression and ending partisan gerrymandering, While President Joe Biden has urged Congress to pass the Freedom to Vote Act as soon as possible, the GOP’s use of the filibuster, a longstanding debate aimed at delaying a vote on legislation, will likely make that prospect an uphill battle....

Brandon Waddell limited Vanderbilt to five hits in his first nine-inning complete game, Virginia knocked out first-round draft pick Tyler Beede in the seventh, and the Cavaliers evened the College World Series finals with a 7-2 victory Tuesday night. MORE: Must-see CWS photos Each team will be playing for its first national title in baseball on Wednesday night. “I know the bounce back this team has shown all year long,” Cavaliers coach Brian O’Connor said....

Dayna Jennings, 45, was convicted of the first-degree murder of her father William Mussack, 69, as well as tampering with a human body, after his decomposing corpse was discovered by police at the house in Federal Heights on January 10, 2018. Police said they had made several attempts to conduct a welfare check on Mussack after relatives became concerned that they could not get in contact with him in December 2017....

Leading the way for Indianapolis was birthday boy Nyheim Hines, who had a career-best 115 yards of total offense; 70 yards and a rushing touchdown on 12 carrries, and 45 yards and a receiving touchdown on five catches. Philip Rivers quietly played a crucial role, too, completing 29 of 39 passes (74.4 percent) for 308 yards. Rivers did a great job of taking care of the football while also managing to take a few deep shots, most of them going to rookie wideout Michael Pittman Jr....